Women’s Low Participation in Top Leadership Positions in North Shoa Zonal Administration, Amhara Region, Ethiopia: Its Determinants

Abstract

Women represent over half of the Ethiopian population, but their participation in different leadership positions of public institutions is vastly underrepresented. Women in North Shoa zone administration also experiencing this problem. Therefore, in order to investigate the determinants of this problem, demographic factors such as age and marital status; personal factors, organizational factors and socio-cultural factors were considered in the study. Both descriptive design and explanatory design were employed. 95.49 % response rate was used in the study. Simple random sampling and judgmental sampling technique were used to select sample respondents. Data were collected from primary sources through structured questionnaires. Pearson correlation, cross tabulation and multiple linear regressions were employed. Age(β=0.08,P<.001), marital status(β=0.346,p<0.01), personalfactors ((β=0.320,p<0.01),organizational factors(β=0.290,P<0.001) and socio-cultural factors(β=0.213, p<0.01) had significant effect on women’s participation in leadership positions in the study area. Accordingly, recommendations were forwarded so as to increase the participation of women’s in leadership positions in the study area. Key Terms : Determinants, women, leadership positions, North Shoa Zonal Administration DOI: 10.7176/DCS/11-8-03 Publication date: October 31 st 2021